NYC NOW - Midday News: New Death Reported in Harlem Legionnaires Outbreak, Long Island Gym Settles Over Illegal Cancellation Policy, and Shakespeare in the Park Returns

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

City health officials confirm another death linked to a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Central Harlem, bringing the total number of cases to 58 since late July. Meanwhile, a Long Island City gym has agreed to change its cancellation policy after the attorney general’s office said it violated state law. Plus, after an 18-month renovation, the Delacorte Theater reopens this week, marking the long-awaited return of Shakespeare in the Park. Patrick Willingham, Executive Director of the Public Theater that runs Shakespeare in the Park, joins us ahead of the new season.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, August 5th. Here's the midday news. I'm Jenae Pierre. The New York City Department of Health says another person has died in New York City of Legionnaires disease, tied to an ongoing cluster of the illness in and around Central Harlem. The department now says 58 people have been diagnosed with Legionnaires in the near neighborhood since late July. Legionaire's disease is a type of pneumonia caused by a bacteria which grows in a warm water.

It thrives in places like cooling towers and air conditioning systems. Officials say if you live or work in the area and are experiencing flu-like symptoms, you should contact a health care provider immediately. Working up the motivation to join a gym can be hard, and WMYC's Samantha Max reports sometimes canceling a membership can be even harder. The New York Attorney General's Office recently sued along as City Gym, whose cancellation policy was so cumbersome that it violated state law. Now, the gym has agreed to make it easier for people to walk away. The office says Aniva Gym has agreed to change its

policy and payback customers who got stuck on the hook for costly memberships they no longer wanted. Eligible customers can file a complaint online. An attorney for Aniva says the health club did not know about the state law before, but should have, and that the gym will follow the regulations moving forward. It's another day of substandard air quality in New York City. The State Department of Environmental Conservation says air quality will be unhealthy for people in some sensitive groups today. That's because of wildfire smoke coming down to our region from Canada.

Stick around. There's more to come. This is NYC now. This week marks the end of many long months without free Shakespeare in the park. The beloved program's home, Central Park's Delacourt Theater, has been closed for 18 months for upgrades, but is welcoming theater goers again this Thursday. Patrick Willingham is the executive director of the public theater, which runs Shakespeare in the Park. Good morning, Patrick. Welcome to the show. Good morning, Janae. I can't tell you how happy I am to be on public radio.

I can't tell you how happy I am that Shakespeare in the Park is. returning this week. So let's start here with the basic, shall we? There have been some really big changes to the space. Can you tell me about those changes at the new Delacourt Theater? Absolutely. Yeah, the thing I've been saying to donors, audience members is that you can't make a lot of improvements to the audience experience. You're sitting in the middle of Central Park, out in the open air, the moon rises over the set, Belvedere Castle is in the background. It's an absolutely glorious experience and we didn't want to change any of that. However, what we did need to change was a quite dilapidated 60-year-old structure that had never had any major intervention. So we've

dramatically increased accessibility. We've made it a much more user-friendly space for all the folks who actually work there, artists, technicians, etc. It's far more accessible in the past. We had very limited accessibility for folks with mobility issues. We've now increased that dramatically throughout the whole venue. And quite frankly, the exterior experience coming into the theater now matches the incredible artistic experience that one has inside the theater. It just works better in the park. It's a much more elevated exterior and I think is going to be very welcomed by audiences.

Let's talk more about that artistic experience. This year's Free Shakespeare in the Park's production is 12th night. For the unfamiliar, could you give a short summary of that? That 12th Night is going to be a fabulous production this year. We have an incredible cast starring Lupita Niyango, her younger brother, Jr., making his New York City stage premiere. Sandra O., Peter Dinklage, Daphne Reuben, Vega, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. And 12th Night is just one of Shakespeare's most beloved plays. It is an absolute delight to folks who are stranded in a new land

and having to discover their own way. So in some ways it also touches a little bit on some of the immigration issues that we're facing now as a country. Can you talk a bit more about the approach to 12th Night that this production is taking? Absolutely. It's directed by Sahim Ali, who, who is both one of our associate artistic directors and resident director at the public, and is one of the most joy-filled directors I think anyone has ever experienced.

So the show will be an absolute joy of discovery as these two stranded folks explore this new country of a lyrid that they find themselves in. This is so very exciting. You talked about the cast. You've talked about the show and its production. But I'm curious, how do you go about selecting the shows each and every season? And why this show this year? Well, part of the joy of Shakespeare is there's only 37 plays in the canon. So you have a limited selection.

This year, 12th Night, we just felt like we needed to return to the Delacourt after being dark for 18 months with something that everyone could embrace. 12th Night's also a really special show in Shakespeare's canon because there is no character called 12th Night. It's not Romeo in Juliet. So there is a broadcast of characters. Each one, beloved Malvolio, Toby Belge, Viola, Sebastian. And so it was really important for us to assemble a great cast of actors who would be able to really stretch their wings for the city. Yeah. Obviously this year's season is just kicking off, but what are you looking forward to in the years to come now that you have this new upgraded space? So it's a pretty short season this year because we were waiting for construction to end. Normally we begin our season at the end of May. Next year, we're actually considering the second part of our grand reopening, and it's going to be really spectacular. We've got some interesting plays on the horizon. I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag quite yet. Please, just a little bit.

I'll let a little teeny kitten out of the bag. Okay, I'll take it. Okay, good. One of the things we are going to be doing is reactivating the space as sort of the civic spot that we have always considered it. Free Shakespeare in the park we've performed for 6 million people over our 63-year existence. And the idea that this is, in some ways, a town hall for New Yorkers will be activated next year when we reboot our program called the Public Forum, where we ask speakers, thinkers, intellectuals, journalists to join us on stage as we reflect not only on the work that we're doing, but also its relevance to our time.

So look forward to a very robust season next year and a really delightful, delightful. program this year with 12th day. Definitely. Patrick Willingham is the public theater's executive director. Patrick, thanks so much for your time. Thank you. Talk later. Bye. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcast.